update -the fate of off*beat and future plans

i hate talking about myself. that's why i draw instead of keeping live journals!

okay i have a lot of news and general stuff to blabber about so i decided it would be a lot less intimidating broken down in parts.  

so...here's the first part to get off my chest.

PART 1
the awful news first.

as some of you probably heard Tokyopop is doing a lot of restructuring in the company.  many of the OEL projects got affected.  Off*beat got put on "hiatus".  what does that mean exactly?  i'm not entirely certain myself.  i apologize for not sharing the news earlier but i was hoping to learn more information about the future of the project.  all i can say still at this moment is that i have expressed deep concern to my former editor that i wanted a means to finish the story and give my readers closure.  i'm trying not to say too much because i want to keep my options and relations as good as possible.  i was given a kind of vague response quite some time ago that things were still being re-organized on their end and they were looking in to options for allowing their creators to finish their stories.

**in short, tokyopop put the freeze on off*beat and there's nothing i can do about it until i hear otherwise...which maybe never.

i'm disheartened and embarrassed that i have to be the one to share this news so please don't shoot the messenger.

PART 2
the (hopefully) good news

my poll earlier this month reflected my plans for the future which i have already set into full motion.  i figured the best way for me to pick myself up from this disappointing circumstance and regain some control over my work, was to look into self publishing and on demand printing.  for the rest of 2008 i will be releasing 28 page monthly comics.  each comic will be a self contained story based on a previous story idea/comic i have written or planned on writing.  i will decide on which story, if any of them, i feel i want to pursue in to a full graphic novel form, based on the outcome and hopefully reader feedback.

at the end of this year, i will have a better idea if comics will be something i can afford to do full time or part time (or worst scenario no time) and that will affect if my next project will be novels published quarterly, yearly, or sporadic self contained single issues.  i will also be giving this time to tokyopop, should off*beat have any chance of revival, i will not be caught in another long story arc.  i will post more detail about this soon.  issue one is mostly complete and should be available in mid/early september.

i had hoped to have out in august, but it will take a month or so for printing and i've run into layout/formating problems.

**in short- i'm going to put a rather big risk, give this whole comics thing one last big effort before i throw in the towel, and resign myself to a future of retail.  

my current life goal is that i'd like to have health insurance by my 30th birthday.  thank you again, words cannot express my gratitude for your interest and support in my artwork.

**related Off*beat links**

Tokyopop: www.tokyopop.com/product/1514
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off*beat
Fanlisting: off.beat.beautiful-beast.net/
LJ Community: community.livejournal.com/gaia…
Fanfiction: www.fanfiction.net/anime/Off_B…